REMEMBER your TOMATOES - separate bags, with names - Farm Happenings at Broadfork Farm

**REMEMBER your TOMATOES - in separate paper bags, with names, in white crates. Bright pink sign is on crate saying "LOOK! Collect your Tomatoes!" (This is because refrigerating them compromises texture and flavor, and so we don't refrigerate them with the green boxes.)

Also - Not as many of our Sunflowers bloomed when we thought they would! For some shares we had to substitute Black Eyed Susan bouquets. Our apologies and Thanks!

This weekend marked the official end to Spring and the start of Summer. (See our Basil patch above!) It's an important marker for us as farmers each year. As "real" Summer unfolds, the trifecta of our region's signature combination of heat, humidity, and bugs will tax the plants we are tending. We have prepared them as well as we know how - we treated them well as babies in the greenhouse and prepared their home in the field with nourishing amendments. We continue to prune, feed, water, in some cases trellis, and in all cases monitor the health of the plants. Summertime is the time of bounty but it is also the time of most stress for the plants. Interesting, isn't it?! We'll keep up our work. Thank you for eating the results!

To support Black led farming organizations, Soul Fire Farm has compiled an excellent list of entities here. As Soul Fire authors state: "The food system was built on the stolen land and stolen labor of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian and people of color." This is true. We all need to eat, and if those with the financial means to support agricultural justice can help rectify the food system, we will all benefit.

Thank you for the ways in which each of you are spreading peace and building justice in our community, and thank you for being with us as we continue to learn and do better.

Farm Share logistics reminders:

- When you arrive at pick up: Find the bin with your name, take the contents, and leave us the empty green bin.

Check your label for any circled items that will be separate from the bag. (Ie: Tomatoes, Bread, Flowers.) Collect those items.

- You are responsible for collecting all of your items at the location you choose, and during the time frame indicated.

Vacations:

The software we use does not have vacation weeks built in. Instead, if you can't pick up a particular week you can reschedule that week's share for a future week in this software (Harvie), or you can have a friend or family member pick up for you. Just forward this email to them so they know the details.

With Phase 2 unfolding and restrictions relaxing, all of our farm staff are all still completely healthy and continuing diligent hand washing, social distancing, mask-wearing, and extremely limiting the activities any of us are involved in off the farm. We continue to monitor the health of all staff. We are strictly following the CDC's recommendations for how to live life safely and with appropriate precautions, plus the governor's orders about our activity, as well as the Va. Dept of Ag's rules about farm business and farmers' market logistics. Any questions at all? Reach out!

Blessings on your meals, and wash your hands often ~

Janet, Dan, & the whole Broadfork crew (Julie, Caity, Karen, Ray, Diana, Rachel, Mare, Tom, and the kids: Sylvie, Joren, Elletta, and Beckett)
Want to follow along during the week, including Farm Stand updates? Visit us on Facebook or Instagram

Owned and operated by Janet Aardema and Dan Gagnon, Broadfork is a small family farm in Chesterfield, VA providing the metro-Richmond area with Certified Naturally Grown vegetables, herbs, and flowers.
We use traditional European methods of biointensive, raised bed production while maximizing soil and plant health for nutrition and sustainability. No synthetic/chemical fertilizer, pesticide, herbicide, or fungicide is ever used in any part of the process of growing your food. Everything we sell is grown by us, and we farm full-time, supporting ourselves and our four children through our farm business.

Growing practices at Broadfork utilize only ecological methods: compost, cover crops, organic fertilizer, and minerals are used to feed the soil that feeds our plants. Raised beds are used to prevent soil-compaction, allowing for happier plant roots. We use organic potting soil and fertilizer, as well as amendments like fish emulsion and sea minerals. No chemical fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, or pesticides are ever used on your food and we are Certified Naturally Grown (which follows the same national standards used for Organic Certification). We are also proud members of the Virginia Association for Biological Farming and Slow Food RVA. Janet and Dan both hold Bachelor’s Degrees in Biology from Davidson and Lafayette Colleges, respectively. Janet holds a Master’s Degree in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. We both thrive on putting our biology backgrounds to use in a farm setting and share a passion for farm education.

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REMEMBER your TOMATOES - separate bags, with names

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